Concept of the Day: Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck

And it’s another heavy-duty Mercedes-Benz: following last week’s Future Bus, the Urban eTruck makes its debut in Stuttgart this week. It’s a 26-tonne three-axle, short-radius distribution truck, based on an existing Mercedes model but with new drive system: the rear axle is rear-driven by motors adjacent to the wheel hubs, as in the Citaro hybrid bus, giving 2x 125kW and 2x 500Nm of torque. Range is said to be up to 200km (“enough for a typical daily delivery tour”) thanks to three lithium-ion battery modules mounted within the frame; using the CCS charging system at 100kW it can be recharged to 100% in two to three hours.

Series production is “already conceivable at the beginning of the next decade”, apparently. M-B continues with its trials of the smaller Fuso Canter E-Cell, which have informed the development of this model, and an ongoing five-vehicle trial with parcel service provider Hermes in Stuttgart is looking at issues including topography and logistical deployment. Full suite of material on the eTruck here.

And more Daimler: the launch of ‘smart ready to drop’, a service in partnership with DHL enabling parcel delivery to – or collection from – your (Smart) car [so small parcels only…]. This is via a ‘connectivity box’ which can be retro-fitted to existing Smart Fortwos, allowing the DHL driver to gain access to the boot via a one-time keyless access app (as in Car2Go vehicles). Beta-testing starts in Stuttgart, with Cologne, Bonn and Berlin to follow. More here. [Daimler is also looking at swarm intelligence in relation to digitalisation of mobility services and e-mobility, it emerges.]

Yet more Daimler: Car2go has had a positive impact on emissions, traffic and parking in Calgary, San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver and Washington DC, according to a study from UC Berkeley. The Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) concluded that the one way/on-demand service – used by nearly 9,500 members in these N American cities – resulted in fewer privately-owned cars on the road, fewer vehicle miles travelled and lower GHG emissions over a three-year period. Between 2-5% of members sold a vehicle and 7-10% did not buy a car thanks to their membership; each car2go car meant 7-11 cars were sold or not acquired (to a total of 28,000); mileage reductions were 6-16% in the cities (average 11%), GHG emissions were down 4-18% (average 10%). Further breakdown here.

…but for those who can afford an electric car, some interesting news: former tennis player/gym chain entrepreneur David Lloyd has launched a new company called EV Hub. Idea is, reports the Mail on Sunday, that EV owners can roll up to the facilities and use office space or coffee shops (or gyms?) while their car is recharging. He’s planning a crowdsourcing campaign for five hubs in London initially, with later roll-out in other areas. Wonder what the cost-per-charge and/or membership demands are going to be for this, though?

And another business model, albeit a somewhat grander vision: Elon Musk’s Master Plan, Part Deux. From the merger of SolarCity and Tesla will come a scaling-up and complete integration of home solar, energy storage and car charging; a compact SUV and a pick-up truck are on the drawing board; Tesla engineers are working on radical developments to its factory system; the Tesla Semi [heavy-duty truck; insert crude joke here] and a ‘high-density passenger urban transport’ proposal will be unveiled next year [he hints at a small, autonomously-driven bus]; advancing autonomy’; and, possibly most contentiously, adding your self-driving, on-demand Tesla to a shared fleet, ostensibly earning you money when it’s not in use. Can’t say I’m convinced that Tesla owners want to share, I have to say, but perhaps future customers for the Model 3 and other ‘lower-end’ vehicles may behave differently to Roadster and Model S owners…